Box elder bugs up; Dane County District Attorney's Office down

UP: Box elder bugs. Last year's mild winter and the dry summer were a boon to the annoying box elder bugs. Jay Bruesch, an entomologist with Plunkett's Pest Control in Reedsburg, tells the Wisconsin State Journal: "The insects have been driving our clients and technicians crazy. Our technicians have been on their knees begging for the first hard frost, which should kill most of them." Spraying the bugs with a mixture of soapy water also works.

DOWN: Dane County District Attorney's Office. The State Journal reports that the DA's office will lose six attorneys in January when various grants expire. Next year, the office will have the equivalent of 26.85 full-time attorneys, the same number it had in the mid-1980s. At its peak, the office had 34 attorneys.